sociated from steam propulsion as was the ship. Just
as vessels had existed for ages before the introduction of mechanical
power, so the railroad bad been a familiar sight in the mining districts
of England for at least two centuries before the invention of Watt
really gave it wings and turned it to wider uses. In this respect the
progress of the railroad resembles that of the automobile, which had
existed in crude form long before the invention of the gasoline engine
made it practically useful.

In the United States three new methods of transportation made their
appearance at almost the same time--the steamboat, the canal boat,
and the rail car. Of all three, the last was the slowest in attaining
popularity. As early as 1812 John Stevens, of Hoboken, aroused much
interest and more amused hostility by advocating the building of a
railroad, instead of a canal, across New York State from the Hudson
River to Lake Erie, and for several years this indefatigable spirit
journeyed from town to town and from State to State, in a fruitless
effort to push his favorite scheme. The great success of the Erie Canal
was finally hailed as a conclusive argument against all the ridiculous
claims made in favor of the railroad and precipitated a canal mania
which spread all over the country.

Yet the enthusiasts for railroads could not be discouraged, and
presently the whole population divided into two camps, the friends of
the canal, and the friends of the iron highway. Newspapers acrimoniously
championed either side; the question was a favorite topic with debating
societies; public meetings and conventions were held to uphold one
method of transportation and to decry the other. The canal, it was
urged, was not an experiment; it had been tested and not found wanting;
already the great achievement of De Witt Clinton in completing the Erie
Canal had made New York City the metropolis of the western world. The
railroad, it was asserted, was just as emphatically an experiment; no
one could tell whether it could ever succeed; why, therefore, pour money
and effort into this new form of transportation when the other was a
demonstrated success?

It was a simple matter to find fault with the railroad; it has always
been its fate to arouse the opposition of the farmers. This hostility
appeared early and was based largely upon grounds that have a familiar
sound even today. The railroad, they said, was a natural monopoly;
no private citizen could ho